Trouble with the Tracys'
by The Magic Hat
Summary: Picks up where Healing, my last story, ends with Laesk's prompt: i was just thinking what about Alan running off somewhere on the island and hiding out. don't know if you can get that into your story but it would make the family think.
1. Chapter 1

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Tin-Tin's POV**

"Boys my office now"

Both Gordon and Alan moved quickly to avoid any more of their father's rage, with their father right behind them.

"Alan is screwed," Virgil said in a sing song voice

"B-b-but Gordon was throwing stuff too!" Fermat exclaimed, not liking the idea of his best friend in trouble.

"Yeah why do you think Alan will be the one to get in trouble! You could get in trouble for letting them continue on with the food fight instead of stopping them!" I retorted feeling the sudden need to protect Alan.

"Well, first off, Dad won't yell at us because we had nothing to do with it," John began

"And second, Dad won't punish Gordon because he will think that Gordon wouldn't start anything without being provoked," Scott added on

"So, that means that Alan will be getting in trouble in 3-2-1" Virgil said that the same moment we heard:

"BUT DAD! GORDON WAS THE ONE THAT POURED SYRUP ON ME" I winced Alan probably was just getting himself into more trouble.

"Yes, but you ran into your brother first, Alan."

"THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"Enough Alan, you are not to leave the villa for the rest of Spring Break, and we are not discussing this anymore, you both are going to go into the kitchen and clean up the mess you made. Then you both are going to apologize to Onaha for destroying the breakfast she made for you all. Understood?"

We heard nothing more than a few grumbled responses and then saw Gordon and Alan appear.

**Alan's POV**

"Great going Alan, just what I need to be doing this morning, cleaning up your mess"

"I didn't start it I just accidently ran into you, and then you poured syrup on me" I challenged

One hour later we had finally managed to clean all of the syrup and pancakes off the floor and walls. Once we were done I walked back to the living room to find Tin-Tin and Fermat, but unfortunately ran into my brothers, who seemed to have nothing better to do than to pick on me.

"Great going Alan, I haven't seen you manage to get Dad so worked up by doing something so stupid since, I don't know, last night?" Virgil said with a grin

Making eye contact with Tin-Tin and Fermat they got up and started to walk to the door with me. We were just planning on hanging out in my room or something seeing as I couldn't go outside, but then Gordon took it one step too far.

"I don't know Virgil, Alan has done lots worse, like the time he blew up the Chem. Lab, that was classy, or maybe a few days ago, when he just HAD to go and mess with Thunderbird 1 even though he knows he isn't supposed to-"

"Gordon," John said warningly, seeing Alan get more and more upset.

"Oh come on John, you know it's true, and because he had to mess with Thunderbird 1 the Hood found out where we were. So really anything that happened to him or any of us is his fault." Gordon finished with a triumphant grin.

I was dead silent I didn't know what to do or what to say, my vision got a little blurry because deep down I knew it was true.

"Alan," I could hear Tin-Tin trying to get my attention, "Hey Al don't listen to him, he's just being a jerk." She finished with a death glare at Gordon. But I could process all of what Gordon had said, and suddenly pure rage just hit me.

"GO TO HELL GORDON!" I screamed at him, loud enough to bring my dad down from his office & make Lady Penelope look up from her magazine OUTSIDE.

"ALAN SHEPPARD TRACY" I heard my father begin, but I had had it. I pushed past my dad and ran out the back door, past Lady Penelope and he questioning look, past Parker who was coming up from the beach to see what all the fuss was about and straight into the jungle. Which is where our story begins.

**Sooo, what do you think? Please Read and Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 2**

**Alan's POV**

Even after I had entered the jungle I didn't slow down, I just kept running. Somehow I managed to reach the junkyard, where Fermat, Tin-Tin, and I had used the hoversled to attempt and escape the Hood (not one of my best ideas I will admit, but look at what happened to Lady Penelope when she met up with the Hood, she ended up in the freezer too!). I sat down and tried to catch my breath, a part of me wanted to run back home and take the heat from my dad, but the other part of me was telling me that I wasn't wanted back home. I mean no one tried to stop Gordon from bashing me, well minus John but he always was the sensitive one. I mean Virgil started it and Scott just sat there and let it happen. Seriously, he yells at me for showing the least bit of disrespect to Dad, but the second I am the one getting bashed he just turns a blind eye. The fight going on in my head stops when I look down at my watch, leaving it on would mean that my family could find me, but if I took it off when I finally did return home my dad would ground my ass tell I was 50.

"Well, I'm already screwed," I thought while taking the watch off and leaving it in the junkyard. Once it was safely somewhere where my family could find it and know that it hadn't just accidently fallen off I left to find a more secure location that would be my home.

**Scott's POV**

I've dealt with an angry Alan before. I mean I have practically raised the kid, I have defused many temper tantrums, but during all of those temper tantrums I have never seen Alan lash out at Gordon like he did. I mean maybe Gordon did take it a little too far, and I didn't exactly help Alan, but Alan has dealt with us teasing him for years and has always been fine. I was suddenly dragged out of my thoughts by my dad.

"What happened here?" He asked sternly

"Alan is just being a Drama Queen again," Gordon replied cheekily

"Shut up Gordon you just had to go and take it too far, this totally isn't Alan's fault he puts up with more of your crap than he should have to. That's all any of you do to him, it's a wonder that he still wants to come home on vacations," John said hotly, "I'm up on Five more often than down here and I bet I still know more about the kid! He hates talking to you all because all you ever do is rag on him!"

"Like what, we know everything there is to know about him, we get enough reports from his teachers about his daydreaming or lack of assignments turned in," Virgil countered.

"Well he is the track team Captain, youngest one there has ever been, and he shattered a state record in the 400 by 15 seconds."

"OK enough boys, we need to focus on finding your brother before he gets himself hurt." Dad said trying to get the boys to calm down, unfortunately it had the exact opposite effect on the two people in the room we had forgotten about.

"Why do you always assume that Alan will be the one to get himself hurt! Sure Alan has the t-tendency to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but that doesn't make everything his fault." Fermat yelled with barely any stutter which only really happened when he was extremely passionate about something.

"I completely agree with Fermat, and three days ago I couldn't stand Alan. Oh, yeah, and Gordon if it is anyone's fault for the Hood's invasion it is your own! If you all had checked over your craft like you are supposed to after every mission, you all would have realized that there was some tracking solution on the nosecone of Thunderbird 1." Tin-Tin said angrily

"How do you know that we are supposed to check our crafts after each rescue," Gordon questioned.

"Because Alan told me."

"Oh, yeah and he is the all knowing expert about us, I am pretty sure I know how I run my craft and what I am supposed to do to maintain it." Gordon yelled back

"P-p-please, Alan has been looking up to you all, trying to be just like you since he was 7. I would know I would listen to him rattle on about how his brothers are the greatest superheroes ever and how one day he hopes he could be as cool as them."

There was nothing but an awkward silence; none of us had really known that Alan had thought of us as superheroes. I mean we knew that he had hero-worshipped us, but then again when your oldest brother 10 years older than you and the next youngest is 4 years older than you, it's hard to see us as anything else than the cool older brothers that can everything you can't. Finally, thank God, the silence was broken by Dad, telling Virgil & Gordon to go and track Alan's watch from the office while Scott, John, and himself went into the jungle to look for him.

**Alan's POV**

I was near Satellite Hill when I heard my brothers' and dad calling my name, realizing that they were close behind me, I climbed up one of the nearby trees.

" I don't believe him!' I heard Scott say, "Why would he take off his watch, he knows that if he gets into trouble that we will need to be able to find him."

"Well the cameras last picked him up walking toward Satellite Hill so hopefully he will be up there and we can drag him back home and be done with it," Dad said as I mentally kicked myself for forgetting about the cameras that were all around the island.

"Dad, Alan spent most of the day avoiding the Hood, who was out to get them, I'm pretty sure that if he wants to he won't be found by us," John said with a hint of pride in his voice that his baby brother had managed to outsmart a fully-grown man.

"Yes, well then Alan had Fermat and Tin-Tin with him, and from what they told us about that day, Alan didn't know the jungle very well." Scott pointed out

"Well, if you spend a long time in the jungle I am sure you can begin find your way around it, I mean he did find the junkyard all by himself."

They all stopped right underneath the tree I was in, I held my breath, so scared that they would hear my heart pounding or just happen to look up. After a few long minutes I heard my dad say,

"Looks like he isn't here lets double back and see if we see him along the way."

" He'll have to come in eventually, he has to eat something," John pointed out.

"Finally they walked away and I eased myself out of the tree quietly, just in case they were still around. Making sure that I went off the path were the cameras couldn't see me, I went deeper into the jungle to find a base camp. Unfortunately my family did bring up a good point, eventually I would need food, and water. Which means that I would have to somehow manage to sneak into the villa without being seen by its 10 permanent residence and Lady Penelope and Parker who were staying for the week, "Just great I thought," and headed deeper into the jungle.

**Thanks for all of your wonderful reviews, I was reading and writing this chapter while I was in the doctor's office because I cut my leg open. :/ But at least I had something entertaining to do!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 3**

**Alan's POV**

**Disclaimer: Don't own them, didn't own them in the previous chapters either.**

After an hour of searching I finally found the perfect little niche to call home. It was hidden up at the top of the jungle, in between two boulders, if you could manage to squeeze through the opening tunnel (which was very narrow) it opened up to a good sized room with a little hole at the top that would provide light. Unfortunately right when I got comfortable my stomach growled and I realized the dreadful fact that I had not eaten breakfast and would start to get very hunger very soon. Deciding that I was feeling lucky I wormed my way out of my "house" and headed through the jungle, making sure that I stayed out of the sight of any of the cameras, and quietly approached the villa, making sure to stay behind the shrubs like I had when I had watched Lady Penelope and Parker fight the Hood. I saw no one in sight, but I found that slightly unnerving considering there are 12 other people of this island besides myself and not one of them happened to be in the kitchen area. With my brothers? That was impossible, they were always near the kitchen or just coming back from the kitchen with food. My stomach decided to growl before I could think anymore on the subject and I slowly approached the kitchen, and sure enough, there wasn't a soul in sight! Extremely curious but not will to press my luck I grabbed some apples and other fruits that we out in a bowl, and a couple bottles of water, threw them in a bag that I found in the kitchen, and ran back into the jungle. Sadly, I made one mistake.

So pleased with myself that I had managed to successfully smuggle food out of the house, I accidently walked right into the path of a camera, and that camera just happened to be pointed right at me. See the camera move to follow me when I walked further away from it I knew that someone was watching through the camera, and without a second thought I ran, ran as fast as I had when I broke the record for the 400 in track and kept running until I reached my little niche, throwing my food bag in before me I weaseled my way through the tunnel and sat down. And waited. And waited. Finally just when I was about to get up I heard footsteps, shrinking back into the shadows of my hut, I heard Virgil say,

"But his footprints lead us this way, there is no other way down."

"Well maybe he retracted his steps," John pondered.

"No, he couldn't have we would have run into him on the way up here," Scott said, "unless he is still up here," and with that he approached my hiding spot. Holding my breath I was sure I was caught. There was no way I could out run all three of them! Scott was right at the tunnel that led in, he put his hand on the tunnel, and the only thought in my mind was "so this is how I die,". But then… He turned away?

"There is no way anyone could fit through there," He stated. And I had to hold a hand over my mouth to stop myself from bursting out laughing! I, a 14 year old boy, had managed to outsmart my 24, 22, and 20-year-old brothers? They finally walked away and out of sight, but I had learned better than to just walk right out and figured that they were waiting to see if I would somehow appear from in between the boulders, but when I didn't I could hear their footsteps finally walking away. I breathed a sigh of relief and laid down and fell asleep.

**Virgil's POV**

"I feel like an ass," I commented when we finally made it back to the villa after running around after Alan in the jungle.

"Good, that shows you actually have a heart, until our dear brother, Gordon," John replied.

"I feel like a jerk too, I mean if I had just stopped Gordon when he started, none of this would have happened," Scott said forlornly.

"Yeah well I'm the one that actually started it, if I hadn't teased him about making Dad mad then Gordon wouldn't have had the opening he did and he wouldn't have been able to tease Alan," I muttered.

"Well, I think we all suck as brother, ESPECIALLY big brothers to Allie, I mean minus John, he actually knows stuff about him," I heard Scott say.

"Actually I feel like a terrible big brother too, I mean sure I know things about him, but I wasn't the one trying to comfort him when Gordon started his rant against him. That was all Fermat and Tin-Tin. They aren't even related to him and they probably know more about him, and Tin-Tin couldn't even STAND him three days ago," John pointed out.

"Ok, ok, enough pity party we have to find Alan and make it up to him and hopefully never let him down like this again," I commanded.

"Didn't we come to this decision last night, when Alan and Dad had their fight about how we "didn't love or care about him"?" John retorted.

Quietly we all just walked into the living room where everyone was waiting and with a silent shake of the head, our dad knew that we had failed in finding his baby. I looked at Fermat and Tin-Tin, they seemed distraught that their best friend was out there in the jungle and they couldn't even help him like last time.

"W-w-well at least he has food and water now," Fermat commented quietly to Tin-Tin but I heard him, nodded my head at him, I was pissed that Alan wasn't with us, but at least if he wasn't with us we knew that he had food and water and could take care of himself.

"It's not the food shortage I'm worried about," Tin-Tin said.

"What are you worried about then?" I questioned

"The fact that it is the scorpions breeding season and Alan is the middle of the jungle, which is kind of their territory."

Glancing up at my father I saw that he had come to the same conclusion as everyone else in the room, with Alan's luck he would not come across one scorpion but a whole colony of one and with 0.5 percent of their venom fatal Alan's chances would not be good.

**Two chapters in one day will hopefully make up for the fact that they are both short. Oh yeah and I now have 13 stitches in my leg from where I cut it open. I was fine with that until my brother started telling all this superstitious stuff about the number 13. Thanks so much Scott, :/ just remember little brother…. I make your food every night, so don't challenge me. Just kidding love you kiddo.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 4**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, even if I wanted too, I'm 15 and last time I checked the only things I had in my pocket were 15 dollars and my house key… and my little brother's report card, but that's another story. :)**

**Jeff's POV**

I am seriously beginning to consider locking up Alan in a windowless childproof room for the rest of his life. He seems to have this uncanny knack for finding trouble, and some of the time it is his fault, but more often than not he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The thought of Alan surrounded by a bunch of scorpions did not sound good, it didn't even sound like a good idea for him to be within a ten foot radius of one scorpion. If Tin-Tin hadn't been with Alan on the day that the Hood invaded than he surely would have been dead due to the scorpion sting. So, now all we had to do was find Alan before the scorpions did, or Mother Nature, a nasty swell was coming in from the east and should hit us within the next 5 days. It wouldn't be a big deal, we get swells all the time, but unfortunately this one will be producing colder weather than the island is used to, so being outdoors for a long time in the rain could bring on all sorts of medical problems, such as pneumonia or the flu.

"Hey Dad," Gordon called me over to the computer.

"Yes, Gordon," I questioned.

"Are you guys sure you checked out the cliff area? Because I was watching the replay of videos from when we chased Alan and the only way he could have avoided all eight cameras would be to go up to the ridge, and Scott, John, and Virgil should have seen him there."

"Gords we checked the entire area, no Alan and nowhere for him to hid from us either, the only place that could have been a hiding spot is a crack in between two boulders, but it is too small for anyone Alan's size to fit into," Virgil replied.

Sighing I sat back down, and didn't think twice when Fermat and Tin-Tin excused themselves from the room…

**Tin-Tin's POV**

"Do you really think that Alan could fit in between those boulders Fermat, I mean, I have trouble fitting in between them and I am smaller than Alan," I asked.

"Y-y-you m-m-mig- are s-s-s-shorter than Alan, b-b-b-but you probably weigh ab-bout the s-same," Fermat corrected, "A-a-Alan is underw-w- too s-skinny for s-someone his size."

"How does Mr. Tracy not know about this, if he did I'm sure all of Alan family would be cramming food down his throat 24/7. I KNOW my mother would be, " I pointed out.

"M-M-Mr. T-Tracy didn't n-notice w-w-when Alan l-left the table ear-rly on the day of the attack," Fermat pointed out, "and he didn't eat the next day because of the attack from the h-Hood.

"So what Alan just eats whenever it is most convenient for him, that can't be healthy," I mused as we approached the boulders.

"A-a-after you," Fermat said gesturing to the hole in between the two boulders. Rolling my eyes I squeezed my way in, with Fermat close behind. It took us a moment for our eyes to get adjusted to the different lighting, but soon we could make out a figure leaning against the wall, either sleeping or dead, and I was praying to God he was just sleeping…

**Alan's POV**

I was dreaming about my family when I heard someone calling my name, and unfortunately returned to the land of the living while hearing,

"Is he d-d-dead?"

"No, Fermat I'm not dead," I responded before I opened my eyes and was rewarded with a small scream from Tin-Tin for startling her.

"Alan what the hell are you doing out here. This is crazy," Tin-Tin started, "I know that you are mad at your family and all, but this is scorpion breeding season and you are just asking to get yourself killed, and if the scorpions don't kill you the weather certainly will, there is massive swell coming in from the east in 5 days."

"Thanks for all your wonderful support Tin I appreciate it," I said sarcasticly, "and I'm not going back home, I am sick and tired of being used a verbal punching bag for my brothers, and for only getting yelled at for the bad stuff and never being praised for the good."

"W-w-well maybe if you t-t-talked to your d-d- Mr. Tracy, he would u-u-nderstand," Fermat suggested.

"Ferm, come on man, you have been with me when I have tried to talk to him, he just brushes me off and goes back to work on "important matters that he can't be disturbed from"," I challenged.

"T-t-t-that was once!"

"THAT WAS YESTERDAY," I yelled back.

"OK, you two enough! Alan seriously I really think you should return home before things get worse, you are going to have to eventually and the longer you stay out here and throw what WILL be in your dad's eyes, a temper tantrum. I mean right now you are looking at maybe being not grounded for your 16th birthday present."

"Ha ha. Tin hilarious," I said with an eye roll, and picked up my stuff to walk out of the cave.

"A-a-Alan wait!"

With not surprising ease I wiggled out of the crack between the boulders and walked out, right into Scott. My mind blanked. How had they found me! I had been careful I hadn't gotten into the view of any of the cameras. There is no way they could have found me unless,

"You snitched my out!" I said in disbelief to Tin-Tin and Fermat

"NO!" Tin-Tin exclaimed, "We didn't even know if you would be up here! We just thought that maybe you had somehow managed to get in between the boulders and wanted to check for ourselves! We wouldn't snitch on you!"

Scott got closer to me, so I just backed up some more, unfortunately me backing up meant that I backed straight into Virgil, who looked just as pissed as Scott. Realizing that I was trapped and there was no way that I could out run both of my brothers, ( I mean I am fast but not THAT FAST). I threw my bag that still had some food at Scott, which knocked him off balance for a second and ran for the opening in the cave. I somehow managed to worm my way in just far enough that my brothers' hands couldn't reach me. Breathing a sigh of relief I realized that I truly was trapped, and that there was no way out. I thought to myself that I will get myself out of this later, but was distracted by a hissing noise and a tingling sensation on my arm. Looking down I saw a scorpion perched right on my hand, and it looked pissed.

**Please Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 5**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them.**

**Alan's POV**

I was having a mental debate about which was worse, the scorpion or how pissed my family was going to be at me for getting stung by one, which was looking like it would be the case. Careful not to move my arm so that I wouldn't disturb the scorpion I sat down. Outside I could hear my brothers' yelling at me,

"Alan get your ass back out here, Dad's already pissed you don't need to make him even more mad," Scott said.

"Yeah come on Al, you need to just face this punishment so that we can all move on with our lives, you'll be grounded for a while sure, but then Dad will get over it and we can go back to normal," Virgil was silent for a moment, "Well not completely normal, we will try and treat you better! We promise Sprout now just come out."

"Um… As nice as that little speech was Virge I can't do that at the moment," I said with a shaky voice.

"WHY THE HELL NOT!"

"Well, maybe I should have listened to Tin-Tin when she told me about the scorpions."

"Alan. Are you saying you just got stung by one?" Scott questioned quickly.

"N-no I haven't been stung yet, but it's kinda just perched on my hand, and it looks really angry," I stated.

"Alright Alan just keep calm and we will get you out of there, just give us a minute to plan."

Taking a deep breath I tried not to focus on the fact that the scorpion was just walking back and forth on my hand and just tried to listen to what was going on outside the boulders,

**Tin-Tin's POV**

"I could go and get the Mole and we could try and dig out way in," Virgil suggested.

"That would take way to long," Scott countered.

"I could go in there and use my powers to get it off Alan, I've done it before and it worked out ok," I suggested, eager to help.

"No! No way! Your parents would kill us if we let you walk into a scorpion infested cave," Virgil yelled.

"I go into the jungle everyday my parents trust me and this is the only way to get to Alan in time, those scorpions don't just crawl on people's hands to rest, they will sting them if they get on them," I responded. Of course, they ignored me and went back to fighting each other. I could see how Alan got annoyed with them! Looking at Fermat I sent him an apologetic glace, but I knew that if I didn't go now Alan would die. Racing toward the entrance to the cave, I wiggled in.

"TIN-TIN!" I could hear both Scott and Virgil yelling but didn't care, approaching Alan I spoke, "Really Alan you need to pick a less dangerous pet, I don't think they love you as much as you love them.

Alan gave me a weak smile, and I could see the scorpion getting agitated from the way it was moving its tail.

"Ok, just give me a minute to plan Alan."

**Alan's POV**

I must admit I felt a huge relief when Tin-Tin came into the cave; she had gotten me out of this mess before surely she could do it again! I looked back down at the scorpion while Tin assessed the situation and it seemed like it was staring back at me with beady eyes, and for some reason its' eyes reminded me of the Hood: cold, dark, and unforgiving. So wrapped up in my thoughts I didn't even feel a crawling sensation going up my shoulder toward my neck.

"Ok," Tin-Tin started, "I guess that I will just have to throw it off you and then we run to the exit. How does that sound?"

"Anything seems better than being stung," I pointed out.

"Yeah ok, you ready of the count of three. One. Two. Three!" Her eyes went beady for a second and the next thing I knew the scorpion was dangling in front of me and then thrown against a nearby wall. We got up and ran toward the crack. I was just out of the crack when I felt a sharp sting in my neck, crying out I fell over and everything went black.

**Scott's POV**

I was thrilled when I heard Tin-Tin and Alan running out of the cave. But I was terrified by what happened next. Alan got out of the cave and looked around for a second before he fell over in a cry of pain. Virgil and I rushed over to him, we rolled him over but stopped when we saw a scorpion crawl out from under him.

"Tin-Tin," I said while pushing Virgil away with my hand. I heard her gasp and then the scorpion was unceremoniously flung into the cave. Rushing back over to Alan, Virgil started doing an exam of Alan to see where it had stung him. There was a small puncture wound near his neck, but it looked like it hadn't completely stung him, because if it had he would be dead.

"I got a pulse but it's a really weak one. We need to get him back to the infirmary as quickly as possible without moving him too much," Virgil commanded.

"We have to walk Virge, there is no other way out of here," I pointed out

"H-h-how are w-we gon-n-na move Alan!" Fermat questioned.

"I'll carry him, you and Tin-Tin run ahead and inform everyone of what's going on! Now go!" I commanded Tin-Tin and Fermat while picking up Alan in one clean sweep. He was a lot lighter than I had expected for a 14-year-old kid. Maybe even a little too light. Not having any more time to think about it, Virgil and I set off through the jungle going as quickly as we could without jostling Alan too much. We managed to make it to the villa in just less than 10 minutes, which was pretty fast considering I was carrying someone.

"What happened?" Dad came out demanding answers.

"Not now Dad we don't have time, where is Brains I gonna need his help?" Virgil asked.

"He is in the infirmary waiting for you," Dad responded.

Nodding our heads we quickly walked into the infirmary. Brains took one look at Alan and told me to put him down and get out so I wouldn't get in the way of Virgil and himself trying to save Alan. Placing Alan on the nearest cot and moving quickly out of the way, I left the infirmary and walked up to the living room. I walked in right as Tin-Tin and Fermat were finishing their story about what had happened. Everyone looked up as I entered.

"If Alan going to be ok?" Gordon asked, his face was pale and he looked very guilty, but I wasn't in the mood to feel sorry for him

"I don't know I got kicked out of the infirmary by Brains and Virgil."

"My question is why didn't you just grab him the second you saw him," Dad questioned.

"I guess we just didn't think about it. I mean he walked right out, practically into me! I think Virge and me were just kind of shocked that he had actually been in there the whole time. I mean if I had thought that he could have fit in there I would have gotten into the cave somehow. But it just seemed way to small for anyone to fit in! Speaking of which, why does Alan feel like he weighs 100 pounds?" I asked.

"A-a-actually h-he weighs 105 pounds **(the average weight for a 5'6 14 year old boy is like 115, if they are skinny but still healthy, up to 130 I had to look it up. :) )**," Fermat corrected.

"How the hell did he get so skinny?" John exclaimed.

"H-h-he just eats when he is hungry w-w-which isn't o-o-f- frequent."

"Well how come we haven't noticed? I mean I think we would notice if he doesn't eat any of his food," Gordon pointed out.

"Would you?" Tin-Tin questioned, "I mean from what Fermat tells me he left the dinner table the night before the attack and you didn't say anything about it. Not to mention the fact that I barely hung out with him and I saw that he rarely ate. He would eat just enough not to draw attention to the fact that he wasn't eating."

"Well now I feel like an idiot. How long has the kid been pulling the wool over our eyes so we wouldn't notice?" I asked Fermat.

"P-p-probably s-s-since he t-t-turned 12."

An attempt at continuing the conversation was stopped as Virgil walked into the room. The room went dead silent and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.

"He's ok, "Virgil started, "and he's waking up."

**So what do you think? Please Read and Review. Also today, June 6****th****, is my brothers birthday! He is turning eight so if anyone wants to wish him a Happy Birthday go ahead. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 6**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them.**

**Before I start I would like to thank you all for reviewing, and for wishing my brother a Happy Birthday, it made him smile.**

**Virgil's POV**

I had never been so happy when we managed to get Alan stabilized. I walked up to tell my family and I wasn't surprised when they all practically ran past me to go check on him,

"Hey," I began but they kept going, "HEY!" They stopped so I continued, "He is just waking up so let's not yell or stress him out at all," I said looking specifically at Gordon and Dad. Seeing that they weren't going to challenge my order I allowed them all to continue walking down to the infirmary while I explained what had happened to everyone,

"Alan only received a minor sting from the scorpion because he was moving which made it hard for the scorpion to hit one specific point on his body, and also once Alan was stung he fell on his back, onto the scorpion which caused it to release its hold on him. Which mean he got some venom in him, but not enough to kill him. But he will not be allowed to move around very much for the next two or three days because I want him to rest and stay off his feet."

"That won't be a problem considering he is going to be grounded for the rest of the time he is on the island," Dad commented.

"B-b-but Mr. Tracy, A-a-Alan and I are leaving for W-w-Wharton in 2 days."

"I have no problems with letting you both stay here for an extra week and have you do your school assignments electronically until Alan is better." But before we could discuss things more we reached the infirmary doors.

**Alan's POV**

I felt like my head had been used as a punching bag. Opening my eyes I saw an empty infirmary room. It took me a moment to remember what had happened. Then it hit me. Scott. Virgil. The scorpion. Man, I was so screwed. Unfortunately the infirmary doors decided to open and in came my entire family, I saw Fermat and Tin-Tin standing outside the doors, but they signaled they would come and visit me once everyone else was gone. I nodded to them just as the door closed. There was a moment of awkward silence where my family and I just stared at each other, they were all giving me various types of glares.

From Dad I got the "you are so grounded and will be lucky to ever be allowed to do anything fun in your life again," glare. Scott gave me the "older, protective, big brother," glare, which was probably just for me running from him, and throwing things at him. I hadn't gotten away with that when I was little so I don't see why he would be cutting me slack now. John wasn't really giving me a glare, more just staring at me intensely to see if I was hurt anywhere else. Virgil was giving me the "I can't believe that you gave me a heart attack," glare topped off by the "I am the doctor so you better do what I say when I say," glare. Gordon wasn't really looking at me but when he did I didn't really see a glare, more of a silent apology. Scott was the first one to speak,

"How are you? You feeling ok?"

"I'm fine I guess. My head hurts a little bit," I said not really sure what to say, I mean I had kinda disappeared for a day and then when they found me I tried to take off again. I figured that they were pissed at me.

"Good. That's good considering what happened to you," Virgil commented.

Dad had been silent this entire time, and I figured the only reason that he wasn't speaking was because if he opened his mouth he would be lecturing me for the next year and a half. But now he wasn't even looking at me, he was more staring off into space.

"Dad," I called, "Hey, Dad," no response. Huffing I laid back down in the bed. I guess the huff was not the best way to express my unhappiness because the next thing I knew, Dad was not only talking to me, but in full on lecturing mode.

"Jesus Christ Alan what the hell were you thinking," he started and I could see my brothers back away, they may love me but there was no way they were getting on "Mad Dad's" bad side, "Of all the STUPID things you could have done, you decided to run into the jungle! You know better than to go into the jungle. That has been one of the few rules on this island since you were a little boy. You STAY OUT of the jungle, and why is that Alan?"

Not really sure whether I was supposed to answer that question or not I just sat there for a moment but a sharp ALAN brought forth my response,

"Because there are dangerous animals in there."

"Right, as I think you very will learned today," he said clearly going to continue his rant about me running away but somehow the subject changed, "and what is this about you not eating? Come on Alan you know how dangerous that is! Especially when you are participating in a sport!"

Unable to take the verbal abuse any longer I shouted back, "YEAH WELL, you didn't even know that I was IN a SPORT until JOHN TOLD YOU!" Yeah, defiantly not my best idea, the room was dead silent and for a moment I swear my dad looked like he was going to kill me.

"We aren't discussing that at the moment, but you are more than welcome to talk to me about it later," Dad said in a low voice so I knew that I had gone too far, "We are DISCUSSING the fact that you are what? 10? 15 pounds underweight?"

"Ten," came Virgil's quiet response.

"Well if it is that big of a deal how come you have never noticed me not eating before?" I shot back.

"You better not be insinuating that you didn't eat to see whether or not you could get more attention! Because if that is the case you will be in more trouble than you will ever what to think about!" Dad growled back.

"No! I just don't eat because I don't get hungry as often as I used to. That's all Dad, I SWEAR!" I promised, really not curious enough to try and find out what he meant by more trouble.

Still obviously mad, he finished off his rant with, "Right, well for the rest of the time you are here you are grounded, and you will not leave the table from now on until you have no food left on you plate. Clear?"

"Crystal," I replied, and with that Dad left the infirmary before he could say something he would regret.

After he left it became awkward again, Scott who was practically a second dad to me knew that if he tried to speak he would probably just start off a lecture where Dad had left off. And believe me I would much rather have a silent, but angry Scott than a Dad version of Scott, I had had to deal with the Dad version way to much when I was a little boy and it always ended with me sent to my room for an early bedtime. After a couple more minutes of staring/glaring at each other, John, Virgil, and Gordon excused themselves, leaving me, unfortunately, alone with Scott.

"Scott," I started but was stopped by Scott raising his hand in a "Silence" gesture. I could almost see the gears working in his head as he tried to figure out what to do with me. With a sigh he just sat down on the bed next to me, and I scooted over to make room for him, just like I used to when I was little and he would come in and check on me.

"Allie," he began, "seriously, what the hell went through your mind running off like that?"

"I don't know. I just had enough and I had to leave! I couldn't stay around anymore and let you guys keep picking on me like you always do, and I couldn't stand another one of Dad's lectures. I just couldn't Scottie!"

"I know it probably seemed like a good idea at the time Al, but now you have just pissed off Dad even more! And you are going to be lucky if he ever trusts you alone again! I know that we didn't exactly help when Gords was ragging on you, and I am sorry but-"

"THAT'S ALL YOU EVER ARE! SORRY!" I interrupted while leaping out of the bed, "I hate it when you guys just think that a simple SORRY can fix everything, we used to be close and have fun together, but then we all moved to this frigging island and you all suddenly decided that you were better than ME!" I finished while walking to the door.

"ALAN! ALAN! Stop!" I heard but I was too pissed, I knew that the door outside would probably be being guarded by at least two of my brothers so I took off running to my room. Bad idea. I made it maybe halfway up there before black started creeping into the side of my vision. Stopping instantly I sat down on the ground with my head between my legs trying to calm down and make the black go away. I almost screamed when someone touched me on the shoulder, looking up I saw Scott's concerned face looking at me,

"Allie what's wrong? Does something hurt?"

I tried to open my mouth to respond to him, but instead ended up turning to the side and throwing up. Scott just held me and rubbed circles on my back trying to calm me down. Eventually I fell back on him, exhausted.

"Sshh, its gonna be ok Al. It's alright," Scott said to me while holding me close. I missed these moments and wished that we could have more of them, where Scott would just be more of a friend to me instead of a dad or a bully. Scott helped me stand up and walked me downstairs, explaining what had happened to Virgil he walked me back to the infirmary while I assume Virgil went to go take care of my mess. Scott got me back in the bed, and comfortable he dimmed the lights and walked out leaving me to rest. I knew that they loved me but their bad moments outweighed their good moments. And I still didn't want to be here, so I guess I would have to wait for a little while longer, bide my time and once I could walk around without passing out or vomiting I was going to go back to the jungle I wasn't staying here and waiting for things to go back to normal. I wasn't.

**So what do you think? Please read and review, you comments inspire me.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 7**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

**Alan's POV**

The next morning, when I woke up, I was surprised to find the infirmary empty except for me. The reason why was answered when I heard Thunderbird 1's familiar engine nearing the island. My brothers must have gone on a rescue mission. Not in the mood to talk yet, and I knew that they would check on me I pretended to be asleep. It would have worked if it had been anyone but John who had checked on me.

"You can stop pretending, Allie. I know you're awake."

Sighing I opened my eyes and sat up, "What gave me away?"

"Nothing, it was really convincing, I was just checking to see whether or not you really WERE asleep," John replied with a grin and pulled a chair up near my bed.

"You suck," I said with a smile, John was the one brother I had that I could be completely honest with and not have to worry about him making fun of me.

"Whatever you say Al," he began, "So, why did you run last night? Didn't Virge tell you not to do a lot of moving around?"

"Um, no. And Scott was being a dic-"

"HEY! Language! "John interrupted sharply but then softened, "and he was just apologizing Alan, he feels really bad about letting Gordon rag on you."

"BUT that's all he ever IS! SORRY! AND Virgil and Gordon don't ever even APOLOGIZE! And then when I try and get them to leave me alone, Dad gangs up on me too! I HATE it John."

"Have you tried talking to Dad about it? Or maybe Lady Penelope, she could help."

"John, Dad never listens, I've tried telling him before and all he does is yell at me for complaining. Fermat knows he's been with me when we have tried to explain to him before! And Lady Penelope wouldn't believe me either, she is too busy trying to help the Thunderbirds do this or Dad do that!"

"If I remember correctly she seemed pretty worried about you when the Hood invaded the island, and when he was trying to hurt you at the bank."

"One good thing doesn't make up for a lifetime of pretending I don't exist," I muttered.

"What?" John asked, he must not have heard me due to my mumbling.

"Nothing, its nothing. Just pretend I didn't say anything," I said looking down at the bed, and went to turn over so my back was to him.

I could hear John deciding whether or not to say anything else to me, but I guess he decided against it because the next thing I know I hear the chair backing away from my bed and the infirmary door open and then close. Sighing I sat up, and my stomach growled. "Peachy," I thought, "If I want food then I have to go to the kitchen which would be where all my family is, just like they are after every rescue." I slowly got up out of bed, and walked around the infirmary for a few moments, to check and make sure I wouldn't black out on the way up to the kitchen. Since I didn't get any black spots or feel light-headed I headed toward the infirmary door and walked up to the kitchen.

"I haven't ever seen that much mud in one place before!" I heard Virgil exclaim.

"Yeah that was ridiculous, you would have hated it Johnny, you might have gotten your hair muddy," Scott joked as I approached the kitchen.

I came into full view of the kitchen, and everyone stopped what they were doing and just looked at me. Feeling awkward I moved over to my spot at the table, but then stopped remembering it was next to Gordon, and sat next to Fermat instead. I could feel Fermat trying not to burst out laughing when I did. Sadly, Dad didn't find it as funny.

"Something wrong with your seat Alan?"

"No, sir I just thought that since Brains wasn't here I would keep Fermat company."

"I d-d-on't m-mind Mr. Tracy," Brains said appearing behind Fermat and I and sat next to Gordon, flashing me a grin. I smirked into my glass of water. Score: Alan: 1 Dad: 0

Even if Dad was going to say anything else, he was cut off by Onaha serving our plates of food. Then I remembered what my dad had said, I couldn't leave the table until I had eaten all my food. I knew that it was physically impossible. Onaha loaded all of our plates with food and there was no way that I could eat it all. Giving Fermat a nervous glance, he must have come to the same conclusion as me, I was so screwed. Looking down at my plate I instantly lost all of my appitite, it was pancakes 4 of them. Right now I didn't care about the 4 part I cared about the pancake part. Shooting a glare at Gordon who was smirking innocently at me, I probably would have started a fight if one well placed kick hadn't hit me in the leg. Looking up, I saw Tin-Tin shaking her head, place down Gordon's plate, and then sat down on the other side of me with her own food.

We started eating and I was listening to my brothers' talk about their mission to Los Angeles where there had been a huge mudslide and a lot of people had been trapped in their homes. Listening to them gave me a distraction while I was eating, but my rapidly filling stomach told me it was full way too soon. Looking down at my plate, I saw that I still probably had a pancake. There was no way I could eat it. I tried to make it look like I was done and sneak away from the table, but unfortunately Dad had been watching me closer than I had thought,

"Alan eat your food."

"I'm done," I replied

"Alan, finish you food."

With a great huff I sat back down in my chair, but didn't pick up my fork or make any move to eat the last pancake. Any attempted chatter that had been going on around the table stopped. Dad just glared at me and I just sat there glaring at him. Fermat shifted in his chair beside me, clearly nervous about the fight that was about to happen between Dad and I. Fermat had seen and heard a lot of them and he knew that they never ended well for me. Picking up his plate he walked to the kitchen, with Tin-Tin close behind him. Soon, everyone who wasn't a Tracy had left the table and was back doing their daily activities AWAY from the kitchen.

"Alan seriously just eat the food before you get in trouble," John coaxed, but I didn't even spare him a glance from my glaring at Dad.

"Dad, maybe Alan shouldn't eat all the food. I understand that he has to gain weight, but he did eat a lot today, and we shouldn't make him start eating a lot of food too fast," Virgil reasoned.

I appreciate them trying, but we were already way to into our fight to withdraw, "I. Am. Not. Hungry." I stated clearly.

With a sigh Dad said, "Alan just eat your food and then we can put this behind us," he saw I wasn't going to budge, "ALAN FOOD NOW!" he finally lost it.

"Make me," I challenged like I used to when I was a little kid, but hey they treated me like one.

Seeing our father about to explode with the blatant disrespect I was showing Scott jumped in.

"Dad, calm down. Alan get out of here," he ordered.

Huffing I got up and walked to the door leading outside and realized it was pouring rain, that swelling coming from the east must have come a few days early. But that didn't matter to me, I walked to the door, but a sudden yank on my arm stopped me.

"Infirmary, now," Gordon ordered. I lost it, big time.

"ALL YOU EVER DO IS ORDER ME AROUND! I am SICK of it! NO DAD I'm not going to eat anymore of your FRIGGING food, and NO my grades will stay the way they are if I WANT THEM TO! AND NO GORDON I WON'T GO DOWN TO THE GOD DAMN INFIRMARY!" And with that I broke free of my brother's hold on my arm and burst outside. It was defiantly raining, it was hard to see very far in front of you, but that didn't matter to me, I knew where I was going. Into the jungle. Taking off down the beach I reached the jungle in record time. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going to go once I got into the jungle but I didn't care right now I just had to-

"ALAN!" I could hear John yell after me and knew that he was chasing me.

I took off running again, downhill this time, hoping that John would have a harder time chasing me if he had to run down a muddy hill. I guess I must not have thought that my other brothers could be chasing me as well because once I made it down the hill; something hit me and knocked me to the ground. I landed in a big mud pile and when I opened my eyes Scott was over top of me and he was pissed, probably more so than the last time he had caught me.

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	8. Chapter 8

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 8**

**Alan's POV**

"ALAN, WHAT THE HELL," Scott yelled while shaking my shoulders, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Still mad and trying to get away I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I kicked Scott in the chest and took off running again. I didn't have many options of where to hide, if I went to the left I would end back up on the beach, if I went to the right I would end up in the river running through the jungle, and there was no way I was going back, because that's where Scott and John were. I was probably a good bit in front of them and might have been able to out run them and find a place to hide, if I hadn't come to a steep, muddy hill. There was no way around it so I had to climb it, it was extremely slippery and I fell a couple of times, but by the time that I had managed to get half way up and hand yanked me down. Hard. I landed on someone's chest and knowing it was Scott I started pounding my fists into him, "LEMME GO! GOD DAMN IT, I MEAN IT SCOTT!" I yelled at him.

"ALAN stop! Just stop," Scott said gently and for some reason I started crying, "It's ok Al I gotcha." He said soothingly and let me stay like this for several minutes, but then he sternly pulled me away, "Alan, don't ever run off like that again. And while we are at it, let's not kick me anymore either, you aren't exactly 5 anymore." I just put my head back on his chest, exhausted.

"We didn't live on this frigging island when I was five," I said into his chest, but he still managed to hear me.

"You love this island Allie, and would you STOP with the language. Honestly, Dad's actually going to wash your mouth out with soap."

"I'd like to see him try, and no I HATE it here Scott."

"Why don't we talk about this, OUT of the rain," John pointed out, appearing behind us, "Jesus, Alan you really can run. Seriously that was ridiculous." He finished with a grin

"That's just because all that chocolate makes you fat Johnny," Scott teased while helping me stand up.

John just rolled his eyes and we started walking east out of the jungle. We had made it halfway up the beach when Virgil and Gordon came running down to meet us.

"Are you guys ok?" Gordon asked.

"Dad's really pissed, we might have to hide Alan for a little while," Virgil said at almost the same time.

"I'm not scared of Dad," I huffed.

"Yeah," Gordon started with a laugh, "we kinda figured that one out when you told him to "make you". Seriously that took some guts kiddo."

After that, we silently made our way up the pool area and tried to sneak into the house, nobody was in the kitchen so we took that as a good sign and dried off with some towels that Virgil and Gordon brought us. We were so busy trying to be quiet that we didn't even hear someone approach us from behind.

"Your father is coming," Lady Penelope said and then looked at me, "If I were YOU I would make yourself scarce."

"How does he even know we are here?" Virgil questioned.

"He looked out his window and saw you all coming up the walkway, so yes he does know that Alan is here, and yes he is still very mad at you. So, Alan darling, I would find a very good hiding spot very soon, because he is on his way down from his office now."

Ducking quickly behind the orange sofa, which had been place right up against the wall until we could fix the glass frame that it had gone through; I waited for Dad to come downstairs.

"Boys, are you alright? Where is your brother? Scott why are you covered in mud?" Dad asked all at once.

"Um, yeah we're fine, Alan is, um, around, and I fell while chasing after Alan," Scott replied.

"Why do you have a muddy footprint on your chest?" Dad questioned having just seen it when Scott moved his towel.

"Alan kicked me," He stated simply.

With a deep sigh Dad said, "Boys one last time where is your brother?"

"We really don't know where he went," They all answered at once, but their eyes' flickered over here for a split second. Unfortunately, Dad saw it as well.

"Alan, would you please come out from behind the sofa?"

Now I was terrified because Dad had not only asked me but used the word please. Those were two things that he never used with me. I got out from behind the sofa and walked closer to him. He stood there looking at me for a moment before pulling me into a hug.

"Don't ever do that again ok?" He whispered in my ear.

"You're not mad?" I asked shocked.

"Oh, no, I'm furious, but it is partially your brothers' and my fault for this so I can't be too mad. Why don't you boys sit down here and talk for a while and when you are done you can come and work out your problems with me? Deal?"

"Deal," I replied with a grin and watched as Lady Penelope went to go find Parker and Dad disappeared upstairs. Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, and I all sat down on the couches. It was John and me on one and Scott, Virgil, and Gordon on the other. Settling back in the couch I attempted to get comfortable, knowing I was about to be intereggated for a LONG time.

"Why do you hate it here?" Scott asked.

"Alan hates it here?" Gordon asked right after Scott asked the question, but was silenced with a glare from Virgil.

"I just don't like it here, I rarely get to see you guys, and it's not like my friends can come and visit me, we are in the middle of the freaking ocean."

"No that's not it, because if that was it you wouldn't have just thrown as big of a fit as you did, you aren't as selfish as you think we think you are," Virgil commented.

"Well," I started hesitantly, "I was little when we moved from Kansas I know, but I remember us being a lot closer there, and when we moved here, no one wanted to hang out with "the little kid brother" anymore, so I was just left on my own. I mean sure I had Fermat, but I was used to you guys. You guys were the ones that looked after me in Kansas after Mom died, and suddenly I was just thrown to the wolves."

"Well I mean you were like 9 when we moved here Al, you weren't exactly the little kid we had had to look after in Kansas. I mean when we lived in Kansas, you actually needed us. When Mom died when you were 3, you didn't even know how to tie your shoes!" Scott pointed out.

"I actually NEEDED you when we moved here. I didn't know why we moved out here, all I knew is that Dad had gotten a new job and I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it. And I had no friends, so it wasn't exactly fun to be ditched by the only friends I had left."

"Ok Sprout point taken, next subject: why didn't you tell us that you were on a sports team?" Scott asked.

"Actually, I'm on two. I run track and I am on the soccer team," I admitted.

"I repeat, why didn't you tell us Allie that's great news!"

"I mean you guys have done so much cool stuff it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. John ran track, Gords swam, Virge played music, and Scott you were in the Air Force."

"No one was on a soccer team," John said with a grin.

"Touché," I said.

Gordon had just been staring at me for a while. He hadn't spoken like this entire time.

"Gords you ok?" I asked.

"I'm sorry for being a total jerk to you Al. If I hadn't been than none of this would have happened and, I don't know, you wouldn't be in trouble, or covered in mud, or have been stung by a scorpion."

"Well the being covered in mud is Scott's fault," I said while flashing Scott a grin.

"You kicked me, hard, thank you very much. Don't start complaining about being dirty," Scott said with a smile.

"I think we are done here. What about you Al? You ready to go face Dad?" John asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I said as I stood up and started walking to Dad's office. He may have been calm earlier but he was known to have pretty bad mood swings, and I was known to test the patience of a saint. This will be interesting.

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	9. Chapter 9

**Trouble with the Tracys'**

**Chapter 9**

**Alan's POV**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them**

"Dad," I said when I got to his office door.

"Come on in Alan. Have a seat."

I did as instructed and tried to gauge Dad's mood the entire time. I detect any anger, but at the same time I couldn't detect anything else.

"I see that you fell as well," Dad said with a little humor in his voice.

"Um, not exactly, Scott kind of tackled me to the ground, but I kicked him so I guess it's fair," I admitted.

Things went silent for a moment; I hate the silence, because the silence usually means that Dad is trying to figure out what to do with me.

"Do you know why you are named Alan?" He asked.

"Do I… What?" I asked confused, "Scott, John, Virgil, Gordon, and I are named after Mercury Seven astronauts I thought!"

"No, no you are," Dad said with a smile, "but do you know why you aren't named after any other Mercury Seven astronaut?"

"Because the other names sucked? I mean the other two were like Walter and Donald, right?"

"Yes they were, and being the youngest I guess you did have fewer options, but no. When your mom and I were expecting Scott, we just couldn't decide how to pick a name, I was doing work for NASA one night when your mom asked about the Mercury Seven astronauts, and that's when we decided to name our sons' after them. Scott was an easy first pick, we both liked the ring of it. John was also pretty easy, it was another nice, simple name. When Virgil came around, we both looked at the names and decided that we wanted something more unique this time, it was a tie between Virgil and Gordon for a while, but in the end we decided that he was a Virgil. Gordon was easiest, because we had wanted that name while pregnant with Virgil. Now, to the part that you really want to hear about, how we named you.

When your mom told me that she was pregnant again, I wasn't exactly happy, don't get me wrong, Al, but your mom had almost died giving birth to Gordon, and I didn't want to lose her and be a single father of four young boys. But your mom was adamant she refused to give you up. We got mad at each other and didn't talk at all for a month, after that it was very rarely. That was hard on your brothers' because they had no idea what was going on. But when we had finally worked through our differences, your mom was about 8 months pregnant. We hadn't even begun to discuss a name. About a week after we had worked through everything, your mom went into premature labor with you. She was rushed to the hospital, and for a while it looked like we would lose you both. But you both came through in the end. When the doctor asked for a name, I had no idea what to say, but your mom just calmly answered Alan Shepard Tracy. From that moment on, you were exactly like your mom. You followed her everywhere and did everything the way that she did.

When she died, it was hard for me to look after all of you boys, but especially you. That's one of the reasons that I buried myself into work, I couldn't think about your mother and just looking at any one of you boys broke my heart. Alan, you were the biggest trigger of all your brothers, but you were the one that needed me the most, and I couldn't help you. You were so confused, and I just couldn't stand your innocent questions of "Where did Mommy go?" or "Why did Mommy leave?". Did you know that at one point, your mother's parents tried to sue me for custody of you? Not all your brothers, just you, that's why the judge denied their request. He said that it wasn't fair to split up the children that had been through such a hardship. After that, I tried to be home more, I couldn't imagine a world without you boys in it. But I guess I wasn't that good of a Dad even when I was home. I mean look at us now, you and I fight all the time, I put your brothers' at risk everyday that we go on a rescue, and we never really pay any attention to you. If we did we would have noticed that you weren't eating."

"Dad you're a great Dad, you just are too busy sometimes trying to be both parents to realize that you can't be Mom, no matter how hard you try you can't be Mom and you can't just find a replacement for Mom." I said.

"You're talking about Lady Penelope?"

"Yes, sir," I muttered, I hadn't meant to say that part about a replacement Mom out loud it had just kind of slipped out.

"Alan, Lady Penelope isn't your replacement Mom, she couldn't be even if she tried to be. You are too stubborn to expect her as a Mom."

I was quiet, everyone on the island knew that Dad and Lady Penelope obviously liked each other, they were always together and flirting, but Dad seemed happy when he was with her. Deciding to bring that up later, I just said, "So Mom's parents tried to kidnap me?"

Dad actually laughed, "they tried to adopt you Alan, big difference."  
"I don't think so," I said with a smile, "and they probably would have returned me after one day."

"Of course you don't think so, and one day, come on Alan let's be real, they wouldn't even make it out of the driveway before they returned you. Now, come on, dinner's almost ready and I am sure that Onaha has made something delicious for us to eat."

"Wait does this mean that I'm not in trouble?"  
"Shh, we don't want my 'Tough Dad' reputation to go out the window now do we?"  
"You know about that!" I exclaimed.

"Gordon's a blabbermouth."

Throughout dinner I watched Dad and Lady Penelope talk to each other, they both seemed so happy together, leaning over to John I whispered,

"Does Lady Penelope make Dad happy?"  
"Yeah I think she does," John replied.

"Then why doesn't Dad just date her?"  
"I think that they don't want to upset us, mainly you now, the rest of us are adults."

I was quiet, I was the only reason for Dad not being happy with Lady Penelope. I mean sure Lady Penelope lived in England and we lived on this island, but she was always over here anyway, so it's not like they wouldn't be able to see each other all the time.

"I give you my blessing," I stated in the middle of the dinner, looking right at Dad. All conversations stopped and everyone just looked at me.

"And what blessing would that be Alan?" Dad said with a smile on his face trying not to laugh.

"My blessing to date Lady Penelope."

The room went even quieter, Lady Penelope looked startled at what I had said but happy at the same time, Dad looked shocked but pleased, and my brothers' mouths were actually hanging open.

"But if you marry her, I will make all of your lives a living hell. Deal?" I asked.

"Deal," Dad said with a smile.

The rest of the night was filled with my brothers' and I throwing innocent bystanders into the pool, we even managed to get Dad into the pool once. So this is where our story ends, at a much happier place than it began.

**The end. So what do you think? Please read and review.s**


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